Unputdownable Reads to Curl Up with in December

We’ve already chosen our picks for best books of 2017, but there are still a few releases yet to come that we’ve had our eyes on. Highly anticipated is an understatement: We’ve saved spots on our reading lists just for these new books. When December arrives, we know that it brings with it leisurely reading time, stolen moments the bright breaking morning or early dark in which we lose ourselves in a good story. We’ve gathered a few of those good stories here. We don’t slow down when it comes to devouring our December reading lists, so we’ve collected some new releases we like, and we think think you’ll like them too. These tales promise to transport us, teach us, and challenge our perspectives. From a history of the prairie on which Laura Ingalls Wilder lived to a night of conversation and conflict in Istanbul, these stories will enliven your December. We can’t wait to get, gift, and read each of these books when they’re released this month.

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Elmet by Fiona Mozley

A finalist for this year’s Man Booker Prize, Fiona Mozley’s Elmet is a gorgeous, haunting novel about a family living in Elmet in rural Yorkshire. They build a self-sufficient existence in a landscape filled with surging, vibrant life, though that world is soon endangered when tragedy strikes and outside forces encroach.

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The Ice House by Laura Lee Smith

Laura Lee Smith’s highly anticipated follow-up to her debut, Heart of Palm, is a story about a man named Johnny MacKinnon who’s estranged from his son, has never seen his granddaughter, may have a brain tumor, and is losing the family business, an ice factory he’s been in charge of for years. That’s not the end of his story, though; that’s the beginning.

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Three Daughters of Eve by Elif Shafak

Set during one evening in present-day Istanbul, Elif Shafak’s brilliant new novel is about ideas, taut tensions between East and West, socioeconomic statuses, religious beliefs. It lives in the conversations that divides bring—and in the crossings that seek to bridge them.

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The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg

If you’re looking for a new pick for book club or just a heartwarming story to add some joy to your December reading, pick up Elizabeth Berg’s The Story of Arthur Truluv, a tale of intergenerational friendship and the treasures it brings.

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One Station Away by Olaf Olafsson

The central character of this powerful new novel—a love story, family drama, and mystery all wrapped up in one singularly moving narrative—is a neurologist whose life is defined by three important relationships. He is at the nexus of these stories, the stories of three different women and the circumstances of their lives, in which he plays a role.

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Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder by Caroline Fraser

For fans of Little House on the Prairie, this comprehensive biography will provide an immersive look at the historical and geographical landscape in which writer Laura Ingalls Wilder grew up. The history, the hardships, and the grit of the era bring the prairie to roaring life, and the beloved writer along with it.

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No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin

As the title suggests, the subject of this book is thinking, thinking about what matters in the world, which is what Ursula K. Le Guin has been doing. She’s written down these thoughts in the form of dispatches—buzzing, meaning-laden observations about concerns, hopes, and the unceasing wonder of this world we inhabit.

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Spy of the First Person by Sam Shepard

While struggling with ALS, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shephard dictated this autobiography, a short book filled with remembrance and poetry that looks back at the late writer-actor’s life, memories, work, and family.